(*) misspelled as Confusoes on first posting; corrected after comment from Jackdaw below
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You will probably correct me, but I propose the theory that there are two kinds of compilations â€“ those which capitalise on the audienceâ€™s familiarity with the tracks they bring together, and those which serve as introductions to a previously little known genre. This week, we celebrate seven of the latter type.

Gurrumul

The Rough Guide to Australian Aboriginal Music won of a number of stars the first time through, indicating tracks worth playing on the radio, but I missed Gurrumul then and only now go back to find his outstanding â€˜Djarimirriâ€™

Gianmaria Testa

A previous album of Italian singer songwriters on Putumayo was one of the labelâ€™s strongest releases, and this new follow-up is good too. I probably should have picked out one of the unfamiliar singers but am once again captured by the easy going baritone of Gianmaria Testa.

Lorna

Who knew there was a separate market of Indian music specially recorded in Bombay for inhabitants of the former Portuguese enclave, Goa? The ever resourceful German label, Trikont, has gathered together an entire album of such tracks, and among the many previously unknown artists the female singer Lorna stands out.

Bonga

The title of the album Confusoes is a pun, implying both confusion and remix, as another enterprising German label Out Here, farms out a dozen Angolan recordings from the 1960s to various Brazilian producers. Unfamiliar with the originals, Iâ€™m happy to let the thing play without wincing at the destruction of some precious memory. This week Bonga is my guest on World on 3, but there wasnâ€™t time at the recording session to ask him what he thought about this.

Most of the albums in this show are relatively recent releases, but I have gone back in time to point out David Byrneâ€™s brilliant Tell Stories to the Sea, a collection from the Lusophone countries of former Portuguese-speaking Africa. Among the tracks is the song that brought Cesaria Evora to international attention in 1989, â€˜Bia Luluchaâ€™ surprising to hear now because it sounds almost disco, in contrast to the night club accompaniment more commonly associated with her.

Leonardo Paniagua

Finally, the endlessly enjoyable Bachata Roja, a collection of little known artists from rural Dominican Republic, among whom Leonardo Paniagua has become my favourite discovery.

Last edited by Charlie on Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:25 am, edited 2 times in total.

Charlie wrote:The Rough Guide to Australian Aboriginal Music won of a number of stars the first time through, indicating tracks worth playing on the radio, but I missed Gurrumul then and only now go back to find his outstanding â€˜Djarimirriâ€™

A minor observation: Gurrumul seems to be playing a right-hand guitar left handed (that is, upside down). Do you think this influences the way he sounds?

Thanks Charlie, this week's programme blew me away. (Hope you received my recent email & Forum comment about Sain Zahoor, the Pakistani Sufi folk singer - no need to reply but hopefully he can be included one day - videos of him on the Web are quite amazing - at least to me). Regards. 8)

Jay in India here again ... GREAT SHOW!!! July 4. Thanks for the song from Goa, what a treat! Goa's my winter home & I have a couple of albums of old Portu-Goan music but not this -- fantastic! Every track on the show was great & I loved the mix.

(Just have to mention this because it's so wonderful: now playing on my home stereo is Cheick Tidiane Seck 'Sabaly', probably a big favourite of yours from last year but a new acquisition for me ... it's like a Malian supergroup.)

Charlie wrote: . . . You will probably correct me, but I propose the theory that there are two kinds of compilations â€“ those which capitalise on the audienceâ€™s familiarity with the tracks they bring together, and those which serve as introductions to a previously little known genre. This week, we celebrate seven of the latter type. . .

I would add that I think there's a third kind of compilation, the one with hard-to-find tracks, or tracks from artists that you simply don't want an entire album from. Similar to your own Sound of the World series, perhaps, where you've cherry picked the best.

And a possible fourth kind is the sheer quality of the combination and sequencing. Everything flows so well that even if you've got much of the material otherwise, you'll buy the compilation to hear it all in a new light. Again, not dissimilar to your own series.

And, to a degree, compilations may cross the bounds of these four categories.

I try to have a rule for myself that I won't buy compilations if I have more than about half the tracks. I don't always follow it.

jackdaw version wrote:I try to have a rule for myself that I won't buy compilations if I have more than about half the tracks.

I try to bear that in mind when putting my albums together, and Ian Anderson goes to great lengths to avoid duplications when compiling his cover mount CDs.

And it shows in the excellent quality of the compilations from both of you.

But what you can't entirely take into account is the monstrous bingeing I do when I have cash and blow it all on CDs. Of course, frequently I later buy a CD based on the track I have heard on one of your comps.

It occurred to me that there's a fifth type of comp, the attempt to document a scene or a style or a label for either historical or marketing purposes. Obviously, some overlap there with the first two categories Charlie mentioned.

P.S. ... and now that you've made my day (week, month) with that blast from Goa, it would be fantastic to get another on-air aural postcard from a former, sometime, and much beloved home ... Hawaii, which rarely if ever features on your never-ending world tour. There's a connection, too, as the Portuguese were largely responsible for introducing the guitar (and ukulele, of course) to the islands. Sometimes when I hear Mariza, for example, that marvelous accompaniment reminds me so much of Hawaiian slack-key guitar picking -- I'm thinking specifically of the legendary and incomparable Gabby Pahinui, who did a couple of fine albums with Ry Cooder in the 70's.

(The most common music of my current long-term home, Himachal Pradesh, probably has less mass appeal, as it's closer to the Tibetan style with atonal blaring trumpets and shawms and raucous drumming ... you really have to be there.)